San Bernardino City fire officials are looking for an arsonist who tried to light a fire beneath a resident’s door in an eight-story high rise apartment building early Thursday morning.

The call came in at 2:03 a.m. that the Meadowbrook Towers at 191 W. Second St. were burning. An audible alarm in the structure was sounded.

Battalion Chief Mike Alder said he initially called for a third alarm because “the potential was really big. There are a lot of people in the building, but the fire ended up not being a big deal. We were really lucky there.”

He canceled the third alarm after firefighters arrived at 2:07 a.m. and saw that only a small swath of carpet had been burned on the sixth floor. Nineteen firefighters battled the minor blaze and ensured that all residents were safe.

A Hawaiian woman died in a car crash Wednesday near the Nevada state line.

Natasha Nichol Leinaala Mahelona, 28, of Hawaii was driving a 2006 Honda Accord north on Morning Star Mine Road, seven miles east of Cima Road about 11 a.m. San Bernardino County coroner’s officials said she was speeding and lost control when she exited a curve, causing her vehicle to overturn.

A 12-year-old boy confessed to igniting a June 7 brush fire in East Highland Ranch, fire officials said Thursday.

Cal-Fire investigators plan to submit a case to the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office, but have not decided what criminal charges they will recommend, said Cal-Fire spokesman Bill Peters. Firefighters are also discussing whether to seek financial compensation from the boy’s family for the costs in fighting the fire.

The 45-acre blaze was reported at 12:22 p.m. near Tioga Lane and Base Line Road. More than 70 firefighters battled the blaze with the help of two air tankers and four water-dropping helicopters.

Investigators identified the boy as a suspect in the fire and interviewed him, Peters said. He admitted he started the blaze while playing with a lighter. He has not been arrested.

A High Desert man who went for help late Wednesday after running out of gas returned to find several people trying to steal his vehicle, officials said. He was beaten with the butt of a shotgun when he tried to intervene.

The victim left his vehicle about 9:30 p.m. at the intersection of Indian Trail and Wild Road in Helendale and walked to a nearby house for assistance. When he returned, the victim noticed a car parked behind his vehicle and two people sitting inside his vehicle.

The victim confronted the man sitting in his vehicle and tried to punch him. That is when 39-year-old Ramon Rodriguez, who was in the vehicle parked behind him, approached and held a shotgun to the victim’s head, sheriff’s deputies said.

Rodriguez then turned the shotgun around and hit the victim with the stock of the gun, deputies said.

Deputies who arrived at the scene spotted two people running and the suspects’ vehicle speed away, starting a short pursuit. The suspects eventually crashed their vehicle into a pole.

Arrested on suspicion of carjacking were Rodriguez, of Victorville; Matthew Morgan, 23, of Apple Valley; Steven Bovadilla, 18, of Helendale; and Nancy Pulido, 19, of Barstow.

Deputies are still trying to identify two other suspects who managed to escape.